Friday, April 03, 2009

FSL Baseball Scoring New, Hopefully Improved

Since I last reported, Fantasy Sports Live has tweaked their scoring a bit more towards the hitters. Runs scored and RBI are now +2. As reported before, ER allowed are -2 and wins have been reduced to +8.

On the surface, this appears to be a good change. Pitching points will be reduced. However, hitter points will be increased. While this may create more roster balance, it might not improve the quality of the game.

Last year, a solo HR was worth +6 points: +4 for the HR and +1 each for R and RBI. In 2009 that same solo HR is worth +8.

Now a single with a stolen base and run scored was +4 total and is now +5 in 2009. A triple and run scored also went from +4 to +5.

So, what's the point? It appears HR hitters are most rewarded by this scoring change. Jack Cust type players will be more valuable than Jose Reyes or Curtis Granderson.

This will again incentivize players to short their rosters with only power hitters. Pick a stud SP with 5-6 sluggers as opposed to a full roster of position players.

While pitcher scoring has been reduced, those pitchers can still rack up massive points. A SP going all 9 innings, striking out 12 and walking 1, allowing 1 ER and 3 hits, scores +41. (And SP's should be CHEAPER this year.)

Compare that score to a batter hitting 3 solo HR's in one game, which equals +24.

Now the best news about the scoring changes are the player values. Batter prices went WAY upwards, while pitcher prices went mildly lower. Batters, on average are 25-33% higher than last season. This will make it tougher for users to load up on sluggers AND pick a quality SP.

It will be interesting to see how often FSL adjusts player values and if they ever adjust the total caps on the contests.

I'm going to reserve judgement at this time on my endorsement of the FSL baseball game. I'm definitely going to give it a try. My suspicion is - while the rules have changed, the overall feel and strategy of the game has not changed.